


Three Times Louis Thought About Proposing (and one time Niall did)

by LoadedGunn



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Ew, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-01
Updated: 2013-06-01
Packaged: 2017-12-13 15:48:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/826025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoadedGunn/pseuds/LoadedGunn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I sincerely hope you like this arse, since you are now publicly tied to it."</p><p>"I like it." As always when Harry tells an intentionally funny one, Louis is caught off-guard by the punch-line. "And I'm gonna put a ring on it."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Three Times Louis Thought About Proposing (and one time Niall did)

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a prompter on Tumblr who I can't for the life of me remember the url of (step forward love!). Thanks to Laura for the beta and my friends for the WhatsApp thing. Hope you enjoy!

**Now that the weight has lifted  
Love has surely shifted my way**

**1.** "And I'd marry you, Harry."

It's week nine and Louis suspects whenever there's a camera on him he suffers from a stroke or something. What comes out of his mouth is anybody's guess. He makes a tit of himself in each video diary, at first because he's a tit of a person, and then because he knows people are watching. Because girls give him carrots and shriek at them at Tesco and vote for them like they're on fire. Knowing that makes him want to perform.

Louis' spent at least six years developing his tit-esque act. He's loud and funny and people are drawn to him. He's boisterous and obnoxious and no one takes him seriously. It's a blessing when he brain-farts things that might actually be true. Like how he's managed to fall head over heels in nine weeks. No, really, he's like all the other boys, everyone loves carrots and Superman.

He was too busy being "the funny one" to be "the gay one". Classic defence mechanism, true, but Louis thinks the classics are popular for a reason, like Elvis and braces. He could really use any form of defence right now, since Harry Styles hit him like a boulder to the face in an Indiana Jones movie. It took him all of two weeks to go from "I might actually be a bit gay" to "I just found my soulmate and he has a penis".

It's bloody terrifying. He _knows_ one wrong word could dismantle this amazing balance he's found with himself, with Harry, with the boys, but he can't stop saying silly things to make Harry smile. Can't stop coveting his attention. He'd be totally cool one moment, and then Harry would cuddle him or hug him or talk to him or exist and Louis would emote as violently as a gay volcano suffering from its first crush. The only comfort is that Harry's a noble creature and lets him carry on with his bullshit, loves him back quite politely.

The point is that Harry's sweet and kind and honest, effortlessly funny and cheeky as fuck when he's in the mood. Louis has a million and one reasons to love him, none of which being how pretty he is. Louis could just be as obsessed as he ought to be when meeting a new person. Then again, he could also be honest with himself.

No, the point is that if Harry can say he'd marry The fucking Hoff, Louis can say he'd marry Harry Styles in a heartbeat.

  


**2.** It's week who the fuck knows and Louis can't find Harry.

"How can nobody know where Harry is? Isn't it your job?" Louis snaps at the fifth person that shrugs at him. He knows he's being a dick, but if people knew he was trying to locate Harry for a shag, he's sure they'd have been more helpful. A sexually frustrated Louis is a force to be reckoned with.

It's all relatively new, the buggery. He can't possibly be blamed for wanting to have his hands on Harry all the time. It wasn't even suspicious; they were all over each other long before the Big Confession. He's not entirely convinced their honeymoon phase hadn't started the moment they met.

Finally, he ducks into the right room in this maze of a hotel and finds Harry, pleading with Lou Teasdale. "You haven't had a moments' rest since the start of the tour, just let Tom take you out to dinner."

Lou sighs. "Sweetheart, you've worked ten times as hard as I have, I can't let you babysit on your first night off."

"But I don't have a _baby_. Being a mum is a lot harder than what I do. Come on, please?"

Louis smiles at Lou's expression, recognising the moment she realises Harry Styles is, in fact, a pixie. It happens to everyone. (For Louis it was when Niall had pointed out, "I've never seen him put his hand down his pants. Never scratched his bollocks? S'not normal, that one.")

He doesn't trust Harry not to just take the baby and skip away, so he makes his presence known and walks up to them. "It's okay, Lou, I'll stay in with him," he says, casually slinging an arm around Harry's shoulders. He has to stretch for it and tries to contain his frown. Harry's been through a growth spurt lately, but Louis' sure he won't end up that much taller than him.

Harry looks at him with wide eyes full of adoration, and Louis sort of melts into his side, and if this is what the honeymoon phase is like, Louis will propose right here and now.

"See?" Harry says to Lou after a moment. "It's no trouble for me at all, since I would've hung out with Lou anyway."

She's staring. Could be another Harry Styles Is a Cupcake moment, or maybe she's just observing their spontaneous one-armed cuddle. Suddenly a rush of _she knows we're different now_ is overflowing Louis' brain, causing a hitch in his throat, and he disentangles from Harry extremely ungracefully, which just makes the moment more awkward and Harry's smile grows tense and Louis just. Focuses on the objective here. Getting Harry alone. "Really, I've been babysitting for eleven years. We've got this."

Lou finally cracks. "Alright. For two hours, yeah?"

"Three."

They do the "Just call if you need—" "Cheers, don't worry" song and dance, subtly ushering her to the door. Finally she succumbs to the power of Harry's smile and Louis' assurances, and delivers her baby to Harry's arms.

Then they're alone in a playroom with a baby. Before Harry can ask Louis what the fuck that was all about, Louis leans close and kisses him. It's been three hours since he's done that and it feels decidedly like a breath of fresh air. Harry smiles for him, opens up and licks into his mouth. The baby, naturally, interrupts them with a gurgle. Louis sighs and takes a step back, though keeps a firm hold of Harry's hip.

He looks down. "Holy fuck, you're adorable, aren't you?" he asks baby Lux, basically a beam of blonde sunshine almost completely encompassed by Harry's massive monster hands. "Could do with some salt, but I think I'm hungry enough to eat you up."

She lifts a tiny fist at the attention, and Louis kneels automatically and kisses her tiny hand carefully, pretends to nibble on it while she shrieks delightedly. When Harry laughs it's the complete opposite—slow and impossibly deep, and he could entertain this baby for hours with one long-winded story while Louis does the scary voices and acts out scenes animatedly.

"Thanks for staying with me," Harry says, snapping Louis out of his ridiculous thoughts.

"'Course mate, I love babies, right Luxie?" he asks Lux, who's still giggling at him, like she thinks it's weird he's taking her so seriously. He guesses being on the road virtually all the time has made her the least shy baby in the world, which is great, because if Louis could, he would play with her all the bloody time. He can't remember if they'd ever been alone with her, though.

"So, um, what do we do with her?" Harry asks.

"How'd you mean?" Louis asks, still squeezing and releasing Lux' fist.

"Like, do we watch telly with her?"

At this Louis' eyes snap up. "No, you're not supposed to do that until they're like two years old, or they'll grow up to be mindless zombies."

Harry looks at Lux in disbelief, and bounces her a bit. "You'd make the most adorable zombie ever," he assures her.

Okay, this might take some work.

He makes Harry sit down cross-legged and teaches him how to hold her properly. Clearly, he's not at all staring at his aforementioned _massive_ hands, and when he goes to find her bottle it's not to distract himself. By the time he returns, Harry's trying peek-a-boo, but he's covering her face instead of his own and she's starting to freak out.

"Silly uncle Hazza!" Louis lilts to draw her attention. He settles down in front of them and gently pulls Lux into his lap so that they're both facing Harry. He takes Harry's hand and pulls it up to his face. "Where is he? Where'd he go? Do you see him?"

She's well into the game, starts giggling extremely loudly until Harry uncovers his face and says (in usual apathic Harry fashion), "Peek-a-boo, I see you". She screams joyously.

The next time, Louis lets Harry cover his face by himself, but Lux starts smacking on his hand in distress. "What is it?" he asks her, as she keeps at it, and Harry peeks between his fingers and starts grinning knowingly. "Do share with the class, Harold."

"I think she wants you to put your hand on my face like before," Harry explains. It sounds silly, but she is a baby, so she's lucky enough to be just that for at least six more years. Louis tries lifting his hand to Harry's face again, and she starts clapping like she's possessed. Louis bursts out laughing, both because of her emphatic reaction and because his hand only covers about a half of Harry's.

When they uncover his face again Harry yells peek-a-boo while Louis bounces her. Judging by her reaction, this is the most exciting thing that has happened in history. And she's been touring with the world's biggest boy band since she was born; this girl has seen some things.

"Are your maternal instincts kicking in?" he asks Harry, after bending down to kiss her forehead.

"Well, I did raise a few kittens. You're the one who said babies are fun and you want a million of them."

Louis racks his brain for a moment, then remembers and stares at Harry. He has said that, during the first fucking week they've met, when Harry asked him if he liked growing up with four little sisters. How would—why would he even—Jesus Christ. Pushing Harry to his back and kissing him within an inch of his life seems a bit inappropriate with a baby between them. He tightens his hold on Harry's hand and says in a baby voice, carefully looking at the top of Lux' head, "Do you know how lovely your uncle Hazza is? Did he tell you he's charming and kind and caring and wonderful? Did he tell you that I'm in love him?"

It's not the first time he's said it. Three weeks ago the Big Confession consisted of Louis accidentally kissing him and then accidentally saying that he fancied him quite a bit, and then Harry opened his big mouth and said that he's been in love with Louis for months and months, and Louis was helpless not to say it back. Harry, with his _feelings_ , was this balls to the wall, heart on his sleeve type of guy, dropped an "I love you" whether Louis was making a romantic gesture or just bringing him a cuppa during rehearsals. Louis knew better, naturally more guarded. He had to plan these things out, say it carefully. Over a baby they both adored seemed like a good moment to pick.

A second after the fact, he thinks he's panicking. He's just said he's in love with Harry in front of another person, and he's sort of choking on it. True, said person is a baby, but Louis doesn't think he's any better at hiding their thing in front of other—older—people. He loves Harry so fucking much that it must show under his skin.

He doesn't even notice Harry shuffling closer, not until he feels Harry kiss his forehead, his fucking nose, muttering, "I love you too, it's okay," and Louis can't say anything, but he feels infinitely calmer. When Harry puts both hands on Louis' cheeks to kiss him on the mouth, Lux starts fussing and they both chuckle, cut-off.

Harry goes back to his perch in front of them, but she's still in hysterics. Louis hugs her to him and Harry pulls silly faces, really only making Louis giggle. Eventually Louis grabs Harry's hand to stop him from tugging on his ears, and it's like they flipped a switch and Lux is back to cooing and being generally amazed by all the things. When Louis lets go of Harry's hand she's in near-tears. This baby might actually be possessed. Harry takes his hand again, and she quiets.

Harry lets out his bark of demonic laugh and startles all three of them, making Lux forget her hand-holding obsession and clap like she's demanding Harry to sound like a nutter again. It's not that hard to achieve—Louis always was the best at making Harry laugh.

When Lou Teasdale returns she finds them still in the playroom, singing to Lux a medley of nursery rhymes and Justin Bieber. Which is good, because it means she missed the medley of theme songs and Kanye West. "You two sound really good together," she comments, sitting down with them instead of picking Lux up. She does take her from Harry, though, and Louis wants to jump off a bridge at the disgruntled little grabby motion Harry makes for half a second.

"Of course we do, our master plan is to become a duo once this whole band thing blows over," he says.

"Really?" she asks without looking at him, too busy cooing at her drooling baby.

"Yeah. We'll be called One Defection."

"One Detention," Harry tries, bless his heart.

"Two Erect—"

"Okay lads!" Lou says, covering Lux' ears with her hands and making the baby giggle. "Thanks for that! Was she any trouble?"

"She spit up twice, but it was on Hazza, so it's okay," Louis updates while Harry glares at him. "There was also a crisis with his curls."

"Can't imagine why," Lou says, looking pointedly at the way Louis is patting Harry's curls absent-mindedly. He immediately stops, flexing his fingers in his lap. Lou looks like she wants to say more, but she stops herself. Eventually she settles for, "Say goodbye, sweetheart!" and waves Lux' tiny hand for her.

Louis immediately coos and kisses Lux all over her little face, ignoring her banging her tiny fists on his jaw, until Harry drags him away laughing. When Lou says goodbye, it's to Louis sitting between Harry's legs, both of them making faces for the baby.

"I think that went well, innit?" Harry says, drawing his knees up and wrapping his arms around Louis' stomach so that he's well and truly trapped.

Louis cuddles closer into his chest, considers saying something cheeky, but then just goes for, "Yeah. You'll be an ace dad."

When Harry laughs it's quiet and drawn out and right against Louis' ear. Louis shivers, and Harry's hand creeps up Louis' thigh so fast he must have planned this. "Let's leave that to Liam for now, yeah?"

Probably a good idea. Between Harry's tattoo obsession ("I'll get, like, three next year") and Louis' tendency towards shenanigans, they'd both embarrass a hypothetical offspring more often than not.

  


**3.** The year is 2014, Britain is on the verge of legalising same-sex marriage, and Harry is being difficult. Management sees it as a "bite the hand that feeds" thing, but Louis sees it as "getting a finger, wanting the whole hand", as far as hand-related idioms go. Though with management it always feels like two particular fingers, and he adores Harry too much to try and talk him out of it.

So after the third album came out last year and their contract with the label was renewed, certain clauses were effectively removed. They still hadn't come out as a couple, but Harry publicly moved back into their flat, and Louis put an end to the thing with Eleanor. It was exactly how they'd dreamed it would be. It made them—greedy, sort of, Harry more so than him because Harry hasn't been very restrained in the first place. For Louis it was almost imperceptible acts of bravery—sitting next to Harry in interviews again, tweeting about him again, bringing him home for Christmas again.

For Harry, it's requesting to join the "NO H8" campaign in support of the new bill. (Harry Styles picks his battles extremely carefully. The fact he's willing to go to war for this makes Louis feel absolutely un-fucking-worthy of him, simple as that. Harry hadn't pulled the "I'm a superstar" card in his life, and before making his request he mumbled into Louis' shoulder, "What if they think I'm a diva and sack me?", causing Louis to laugh for the rest of the night.)

To their credit, they don't tell him no. Well, they do, but when he presses they relent and try to find a compromise. Maybe they realised Harry wanted it badly enough to do a photo himself in their living room and post it directly on Twitter. Eventually the PR people say that it'll be too suspicious for Harry to do it alone ("And don't even think about doing one with Louis", not that Louis _would_ ), so all five of them end up at the photo shoot with tape over their mouths. And faces. Because Niall was bored and Louis and Zayn wanted to try and rip off Liam's eyebrows.

The band meeting leading to that consisted of Liam declaring, "As the only one here who hasn't participated in casual homosexuality, I think I can objectively say this is an awesome idea", Zayn saying, "The tape is ironic, innit, 'cause we're singers?" and Niall putting in, "Didn't Steve-O do one? And Paris Hilton? Always wanted to have something in common with Paris Hilton without anyone finding the sex tape. Cheers."

It took a bit longer to convince Louis. Well, for Louis to convince himself, because fuck if he was going to dishearten Harry. In a way, he guessed all those random moments of almost-coming-out-but-only-if-you-squint-or-are-a-diehard-shipper were leading up to this. He knew this was a big deal. That he had to be completely sure.

The thing is, he's come a long way these past four years. From a terrified boy in a closet he found himself in a committed relationship, and the more time that passed the more he thought they were actually going to make it, that this wouldn't just burn out, both Harry and the band. Four years in, he thinks he's heard it all—the hate, the slurs, the boos—finally thinks worrying about that shit couldn't be worth not holding his boyfriend's hand in public.

But his family. But the rest of the band. But the tour and the album and the fans. But his insecurities.

But then Harry says, "You don't have to do it, it was kind of dick-like of me not to ask you first," and Louis kisses him quiet.

A year ago he'd have claimed Harry would have it easier coming out, since he was more of a pansexual wood nymph than a poofter like Louis. Now he thinks there's not much of difference, since Harry is going to be in a homosexual relationship for as long as Louis can help it. The rags aren't going to care how Harry defines himself. The rags could very well crush him. And if Harry was willing to put everything on the line for a photoshoot, Louis was going to be right there with him.

Sugarscape is invited to cover the shoot; management probably trying to make publicity lemonade out of two gay lemons. The girl that joins them never actually asks the obvious, bold and underlined question ( _are any of you planning to marry a bloke?_ ), but Louis lets himself drift over and put a hand on Harry's shoulder when he's being interviewed. Seemingly to try and bother him, but actually to listen in on a ten-minute speech about equal rights for All The Things and making a difference as a teen idol and homosexual behaviour in giraffes and penguins at some point. For the first time in recorded history, Louis is helpless to interrupt his rambling. Sensing this, Liam steps in and herds them for some group shots. Someone will have to Photoshop out the red marks the tape had left on his forehead.

Louis doesn't think they're being too obvious. Harry's grabby with Zayn more than he is with Louis, as always, not that he lets Louis out of his sight for more than two seconds, as always. For all that Harry can be more passive than a brick wall, he's insanely possessive when it comes to Louis. (He confessed one time that Gemma was a bit of a tyrant growing up and Harry learned how to keep what's his. Louis still thought he was insane, but they were both clingy bastards so he didn't really mind.)

At least, when the Sugarscape piece is up the next day, the headline isn't "Larry Stylinson Wedding Bells!", which is good. When the actual photos go up a week later, Louis pretends his stomach isn't churning. Harry chills with him and makes him promise to check his feed only once an hour, since they were technically recording an album and he was technically pretending to be a grown-up professional.

  


The reactions are—well, they vary, but they're mostly positive. Like, surprisingly, overwhelmingly positive. It was such an inarguably Good Thing they did for humanity; the focus was on "brave teen idols taking a stand for a good cause" and not on "filthy sodomites feeding your young with inappropriate messages", like Louis thought. (To be fair, going by some of the things Liam has shown him on Tumblr, the inappropriate messages were firmly planted through no fault of their own.)

Louis was right in thinking things have led to this. This was a pinnacle. This was enough.

After a heart-to-heart with Zayn, a serious discussion with Liam, a toke with Niall and an all-nighter with Harry, they decide. And the next headline is "LARRY IS REAL—not a drill!!!"

He has the obligatory meltdown. Calls his mum in hysterics, tells each of his sisters that if _anyone_ gives them shit he will burn them all, lets Eleanor know to brace herself, has a bit of a cry, plants himself on the roof of the building where there's no reception.

Harry joins him after talking to his own mum. Louis just stares as Harry shuffles over to the chaise longue with a heavy duvet, a picnic basket, two beer bottles and a cheeky little smile. And a torch, for whatever ludicrous reason. "You're an idiot," Louis comments, meaning "I can't believe I didn't come out for you four years ago".

That seems to settle Harry's decision of where to sit. Instead of taking the second chair, he plops down on Louis' legs, pulls the duvet over his head like a deranged ghost, and then leans in to kiss Louis so the duvet is covering them both. It feels exceptionally good to have Harry this close to him, in a confined little space created by the sheet and Harry's long limbs. It's the first time all day Louis doesn't feel like his entire soul in laid bare for the public to poke and prod. Harry keeps him safe.

When Harry pulls back after kissing him thoroughly, it takes a moment for Louis to open his eyes, only to realise he can't see shit. That's when Harry flashes the torch directly into his face and laughs uproariously when Louis claims he's been blinded. "Seriously, people need to sign a contract before engaging you in fucking anything, you're a walking occupational hazard."

Harry just keeps giggling like an idiot and kisses Louis' face to placate him. "You did sign my dick, though."

"You were practically begging for it," Louis explains for the millionth time.

"I was asleep, Louis."

"With your dick out. We weren't even together then, what did you expect would happen?"

"Most people would have just shaved my bollocks or something."

"And risk nicking your pride and joy?" Harry winces, making Louis snort. "I had great plans for it. Grand schemes."

That has Harry smiling again. "Even back then?"

"From day one, Haz."

He looks very pleased indeed when he settles fully over Louis, throwing the duvet back off their heads so they could get fresh air. Louis supposes they make quite a picture, cuddling under the stars, but he can't look away from Harry's moonlit face to take it in. "Don't have to hide anymore," Harry says, sort of referring to their cocoon but not really.

Louis sneaks his hand from between them to play with Harry's curls. "Guess we don't. That's that."

Harry looks away when he asks quietly, "So you were sort of freaking out. I was just—I mean, I guess—well, do you regret it?"

Louis hooks a finger under Harry's chin and forces him to look him in the eye. The other hand he wraps firmly around Harry's waist. "No." Simple as that. "Everyone knows you're stuck with me now."

And that's actually a bit scary, thinking that no matter what happens with their relationship now, everyone and their mother will know. That he might actually have Harry trapped. His separation anxiety is battling his self-esteem issues, and it's horribly unattractive, but Harry's here, nuzzling his chest and shoving his curls all over Louis' face and all Louis can do is accept this state of being.

"What if the band splits up?" Harry mutters.

"You reckon we're gonna be Yoko?"

"Lou, I'm serious," Harry asserts, pinching Louis' side.

And fuck, the entire world knows they're together now; Harry has to know how fiercely Louis loves him, he has to. "Well, you bloody shouldn't be. I dunno what's gonna happen with the band. Maybe we'll split when Liam has a baby or Zayn does a solo album or Niall goes to jail, maybe we'll keep doing shows until we're eighty and our tattoos have gone all wonky like our mums always said. But, like, we don't end. No matter what happens." If Louis Tomlinson, prankster, sarcastic, silly Louis Tomlinson has ever needed to make a serious point, this was it. "I can't see—no, just. Like—don't you?"

The abrupt ending of his speech leaves him a bit flustered, and it takes Harry saying his name to get him to look down. He's nearly blinded by the way Harry's beaming at him.

He's unexpected, this boy. It's like how you look at him in skinny jeans and a white tee and think, "Well, this can't get much worse", and then you take off his clothes and his tattoos are bloody ridiculous and he's got these broad shoulders and legs that go on forever and the only times Louis isn't praising him are the times he's leaving love bites all over his torso. (The most shocking part is that Louis was there to see him grow up from a gawky sixteen-year-old princess to this gangly twenty-year-old male model, like some sexy horror movie. And throughout it all Harry was his.) Right now he looked down and expected the usual green eyes, not the Disney fucking sparkles he meets instead.

Louis' life isn't always sunshine and rainbows. He's been cast off by two father figures, he was bullied at school, he couldn't help his mum raise the girls like he should've, he's had to bear the brunt of hiding his relationship with the love of his life, he's completely outclassed by his band mates and worst of all, most of the year he's in countries that don't sell proper tea.

Then there are moments when he realises Harry Styles miraculously and foolishly loves him just as much as Louis loves Harry—this ridiculous, unreasonable and completely embarrassing feeling measured in heartbeat-skips and laughs and orgasms—and really, who the fuck is he to complain.

"I love you so much," Harry says, sort of unnecessarily at this point, but still able to tease a grin out of Louis.

"Love you too." It falls from his lips as easy as breathing now. Maybe knowing they're _out_ won't feel like repeated punches to the gut soon. At least not while holding Harry. "So you believe me now?"

"Well, it's really no use," Harry says. "Even if you wanted to leave me you couldn't. I'll be like a barnacle."

"I think you mean a leech."

"No, I mean a barnacle. Stuck to the bottom of your ship."

Louis snorts a laugh. "You are so weird."

"I love you, Lou."

"You said that already." He gets one leg out from under Harry and wraps it around his hip, to get them that much closer. This chair will break and Louis won't care. Zayn can get another smoking chaise longue. Hopefully something less disgustingly posh, like the beanbag chair Niall and he have been begging for.

"I sing about it every day," Harry adds, recapturing Louis' attention. "Did you know that? We always say we wanna be more punk-rock but I like the cheesy ones because I get to sing to you."

Louis gets embarrassingly flushed. Not that he's ever been known not to throw in a punch-line when things get too emotional. "So the line about squeezing into those jeans really is about my bum?"

Harry grabs his arse and kisses him again. "Obviously. Ed told me so once."

Louis licks a stripe down Harry's throat in indignation. "I sincerely hope you like this arse, since you are now publicly tied to it."

"I like it." As always when Harry tells an intentionally funny one, Louis is caught off-guard by the rest of the sentence. "And I'm gonna put a ring on it." It sounds a bit less like a Beyoncé joke when he tacks on, "That way I'll keep you forever."

Louis' heart is hell-bent on choking him. "You know your possessiveness is entirely unwarranted."

"I don't care. Can you imagine—holding your hand and knowing that that's it?"

Harry's shameless. He's shameless when he's begging for Louis' cock down his throat and he's shameless when proclaiming his undying puppy love. Usually Louis manages to avoid being sucked into this whirlpool of emotion, but right now all he can think about is taking Harry's hand and feeling cool metal against his ring finger and _knowing_. And how can he not think about the disillusionment of age five and eighteen, of his mum crying on would-be anniversaries.

Harry must notice him tensing up. He runs a comforting hand up Louis' arm. "Sorry, that was too much. Tell me about Niall getting arrested."

Louis lets out a breath. "Always."

  


**4.** "Hey baby, I think I wanna marry you."

It's 2016 and Louis isn't sure why he still bothers hanging out with Niall. He hasn't made sense in six years. "What?"

"No, was," Niall corrects.

Louis opens and closes his mouth a couple of times. " _What?_ "

" _Was_ it the look in your eyes, or is it this dancing dude?"

Oh, Louis remembers that one. "Who cares baby, I think I wanna marry you." Niall grins and high-fives him. Right, that's why they hang out. Niall is easily entertained and Louis could be just as ridiculous.

"Anyway, that's how I thought you should propose."

Though maybe not that ridiculous. It's worth mentioning Louis has only just let himself into Niall's flat and has no context whatsoever, other than the weed on Niall's immaculate coffee table. "You think of the weirdest things."

Niall shrugs and burps at the same time. He's a gift. "I watch old telly when I'm high. They did it on Glee, yeah? Proper romantic, innit?"

"Guess so." Niall gestures towards the toke but Louis shakes his head. Weed makes him horny and Harry's still up at Cheshire to help Gemma paint the nursery. He'd probably just get sadder than he already is without Harry around. He does, however, go raid the fridge for a beer. "However, why am I proposing to young Harold?"

Niall's silent for a few ticks too many, and Louis cranes his neck only to see Niall staring back with his mouth open. "Have you split up or summat?"

Louis nearly drops the bottle at the thought. "Christ no, what?"

Niall immediately reverts to his zen self. Weed brings actual emotions out of him, it's startling. "Cool. So yeah, Bruno Mars is the tits."

Louis knows he's tempting fate here, but he decides to broach the actual topic again, simply because it might be a topic that's been weighing on him ever since they went to Gemma's wedding together—or ever since it became legal and therefore an actual possibility for him—or ever since every time he looked at Harry. Getting an outsider's opinion might be prudent, even if it's someone whose life philosophy is Hakuna Matata. (Though if you asked him it's "fuck bitches, get money", because it always makes Liam laugh.) "So, marrying Hazza?"

"Aren't you already?"

Louis pinches the bridge of his nose and sits down next to Niall. "Think I would've remembered that."

"Well, you should. But I'll have to be the best man, or I owe Zayn like a million quid."

"You bet on it?" Louis asks, wide-eyed.

"Bet on it, bet on it, bet on _me_." He's giggling. He's just produced nachos out of thin air. Also, High School Musical.

"Jesus. You can't be the best men though, you're the band."

"Hadn't thought of that. But then how are you gonna get married if you're performing?"

"You're the one who wanted me to propose through song!"

Niall clapped a heavy hand on Louis' shoulder. "Just trying to be supportive, mate."

So Louis hugs him, because Niall really, really is. If Liam had been obsessively worried about the implications on the band, and Zayn had been mercilessly cheeky about it, Niall was the one, from the very beginning, who just let them be. Didn't make a big deal out of anything. Always let Louis stay at his during rough patches, and never pushed him to talk about his feelings. "I love you."

Niall hugged him back as fiercely as ever, but laughed before saying, "Save it for your baby daddy, love."

The thing is, his stomach isn't twisting. He's over the worst case scenarios. Thinking about being a—a husband is, well, not panic-inducing. Which is a bit panic-inducing in itself. Niall keeps rubbing a comforting hand up and down Louis' arm. "Tommo, I managed to avoid serious conversations for ten years, and I'm not exactly in a state to give useful advice. Please talk to Zayn about this before doing anything."

So Louis texts Zayn, 'propose to h y/n?'

It takes him two beers and half an episode of Glee to reply. '@ urs were r u???'

Niall barely notices when Louis leaves, too busy singing along to Katy Perry. When Louis gets to Zayn's flat, however, Niall texts him that Zayn has just shown up at his with booze. Louis' life is now a Benny Hill episode.

Liam moved out of the complex first, and Harry still has that stupid bloody house at Primrose Hill, and Zayn moved in with Perrie for a while, but eventually they just drifted back together, like magnets or some other metaphor. Louis, Harry, Zayn and Niall still live together in the same building. It works quite well when they need to have serious talks at midnight.

When they finally catch up at Louis and Harry's flat, Zayn's expression is unreadable. Also, he's lacking in booze. Niall probably kept it. It doesn't actually matter, Louis would be nothing if he didn't have some hard liquor in the freezer.

"So, what's going on?" Zayn asks, cutting right to the chase. He takes off his shoes and folds himself up on Harry's couch. He might as well be cracking open a tub of ice cream and putting in a romantic comedy.

Louis sighs heavily. "Niall brought it up."

"I don't think anything ever started with that sentence and ended well, but go on," Zayn encourages, making Louis laugh.

"Well, he was just coming up with ways for me to propose. Made me think it couldn't be the worst thing, right?"

"And you texted me."

"Well, Liam would've made me a pros and cons list and been all practical about it."

Zayn looks absolutely scandalised. "He so wouldn't have. He would've heard you out and given you the best advice. He'd—" Louis cuts him off with the usual whale sound he makes when Zayn's mancrush gets him too off-track. "So basically you asked me so you could listen to the sound of your own voice?"

"You didn't know that's why we kept you in the band?"

Zayn smacks his knee and Louis kicks out his leg to deflect, knocking Zayn over to his side. Zayn pulls on Louis' hoodie until they're cuddling. Zayn is literally the worst ever at confrontations. "Fine, twathead, I'll give you pros," Zayn starts. "You've been together for a million years, you live together, everyone already knows, and most importantly, you can. Cons?"

Louis buries his nose in Zayn's shoulder. It's rare for him to be honest. He feels a bit ridiculous. "He's so young, he's twenty bloody two."

"But like, you've noticed his only friends are thirty-year-old parents?"

"That's because he's a weirdo, though."

"Well, yeah. But also, okay, his sense of humour hasn't made it past primary school, but he's more mature than all of us together. He's really an old man in disguise."

He frowns. "I always thought he was a baby animal in disguise."

Zayn hums like he's considering it for the first time. "Our boy is quite special."

 _My boy_. Louis smiles helplessly. "So I'm basically considering marrying a seventy-year-old baby squirrel?"

He can actually feel Zayn grin and hug him tighter. "Ew, you said marrying."

"Ugh." This is the worst conversation.

"Lou and Hazza sitting in a tree—"

"Oh my god, Malik." It just got worse.

"What even made you think of it? And don't say Niall," he warns before Louis even opens his mouth. "I can smell the spliff on you and I refuse to believe that's what got you to consider marrying your kitten."

"Squirrel."

"Dickhead."

Louis makes another horrible noise while trying to come up with an answer. It's hard to think of one lightbulb moment that got Harry from _baby giraffe_ to _future husband_. He's always thought of it as the natural progression of things. Fall in love, get married, have babies, don't fuck up, profit. Louis might have had commitment issues, but he's always wanted to have kids (tick), and then he fell in love like one would fall through a gaping manhole in the middle of London (tick), so, really, getting married and not fucking up might not be so hard to achieve. At least that's what his mum said when he realised how bloody much he loved Harry and literally came crying to her. And Harry and he joke about it often enough, sometimes tongue-in-cheek and sometimes just-drop-to-one-knee-already-you-chickenshit.

Maybe if they started dating now, at twenty four and twenty two, if they went on an awkward date and Louis said he wanted to get married and have a big family and Harry said he wasn't looking for that right now and it would've been a deal-breaker, maybe that would have made it clear-cut. But it hadn't even crossed their minds at sixteen and eighteen, and now it's too late to talk about it seriously. They're far too involved to have deal-breakers. If Louis actually does it and Harry actually says no, he'd have to do something drastic. "The only option would be to steal a TARDIS and live with dinosaurs instead of Harry. Space dinosaurs. Am I boring you?"

Zayn finishes off a text and then looks at Louis again. "Yeah, but for some reason I'm still listening. Get on with it."

"So like, when gay marriage was legalised because Haz did that No Hate thing?" Zayn is totally biting back a _that's a leap_. "And like, we were watching telly and there were all these gay couples doing interviews about how much better their lives are and how validated they feel, and Harry got all emotional so I had to take him out for pancakes and we tricked Niall into thinking sucking one dick made him gay-married to it, especially since it was yours." Zayn frowns so hard it's not even pretty anymore. Niall's relationship with Zayn's dick will always be something worth bringing up. "But anyway, it was after we came out and every paper and blog in England wanted to get our opinion on the matter."

He's waiting for some sort of reaction, since Zayn hadn't known about any of this, but he looks unimpressed enough to convey, "They want your opinion every time a footie player farts, I sort of figured they'd want the world's most famous British gay couple to comment on same-sex marriage being allowed in Britain." Louis makes a face that conveys "my opinion fucking matters".

(He remembers people in 2010 saying One Direction would blow over, that no one will even remember them in five year's time. If they knew One Direction in 2016 would still be tight enough to have conversations without actually having them, they would have stuck a foot in their mouths.)

"Well?" Zayn finally spoke. "Did you give an interview?"

"We went on Radio 1, eventually. And of course Nick Grimshaw asked us if we were planning on abusing the bill, and I was like, of course, without really thinking, and Harry sort of grabbed my hand and was a bit lovely and it hit me, you know? Like I was finally taking the step from _I want to get married someday_ to _I want to marry Harry Styles someday_." Zayn looks like he's waiting. Okay fine. "Also I panicked and started nattering about how I wasn't planning on doing it _right that second_ because we were so busy with the band and whatever."

"There it is," Zayn says, patting Louis' side. "You realise the band fully supports you and you should do whatever the fuck you want, yeah?"

"Well." Louis feels incredibly warm and loved-up in two seconds. Zayn's amazing like that. "Thanks."

"'Course mate." Zayn's phone buzzes, and Louis huffs as Zayn pulls it out and totally ruins their bro-out. "Also," Zayn adds, eyes still flitting over the text. "You realise Harry will say yes and you'll be an old married couple and put us bachelors to shame, yeah?"

"You can't know that he wants to marry me."

He positively smirks when he turns the screen Louis' way and lets him read the text. It's from Harry, which makes his heart ridiculously skip, and it says, 'Yes of course I do!!! xx'

Of course, Louis can read the entire conversation between Harry and Zayn because Zayn's an absolute knobhead and sent the original text to their WhatsApp group and not to Harry specifically.

  


After a quick wank with Harry in their bedroom, Louis' refreshed enough to actually let this night sink in. What Niall brought up so flippantly, what Zayn talked about like it was obvious, how Harry just said yes. Louis thinks he might actually be as ready as he'll ever be.

He shuffles back to the living room to find that Zayn is still there, dicking around on his phone. "Good wank?" he asks without even removing his eyes from the screen.

"Always," Louis answers distractedly. He's gearing up. Finally says breathlessly, "I think I wanna marry Harry."

"Ha, it rhymes."

**+**

When they actually start to plan the proposal (and it's a group effort, obviously) they bring in Liam. Of course the first thing he contributes is more useful than all the things Niall and Zayn have said combined. "Do you know how many marriage proposals he gets a day? You better think of a good one."

Liam vetoes a trip abroad because scheduling all of them to go to Paris at the same time would take too long, given all the side-projects they have now that the band's buzz have died down considerably. Louis vetoes a public proposal because too much could go wrong and he'd rather have this one thing away from the spotlight. Zayn vetoes anything having to do with physical labour. Niall just convinces himself he's God, because no one actually vetoes his original idea of proposal through song.

Instead of Bruno Mars they go for Beyoncé.

Louis finally puts a ring on it.

**Author's Note:**

> So let's talk about the fact two days after I wrote this 1D actually did an anti-bullying ad. LET'S TALK ABOUT HOW I'M A SEER AND THEREFORE LARRY ARE A WEEK AWAY FROM COMING OUT.


End file.
